Tuesday, July 28, 2015

How not to get lost in UAE?

Abu
Dhabi Municipality has said that Street Route numbers will positively impact
and greatly ease the process of finding any location that one may desire
through the creation of a smart underground system aimed at making travel
simpler and more convenient for the city’s residents and visitors alike.

Route
numbers have also been added to overhead signs in both the city and its
outskirts under the new addressing system ‘Onwani’ (My Address). Onwani is now
being rolled out by the Abu Dhabi City Municipality (ADM), in coordination with
the Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA).

In
the light of recent advancements, the new street names used in tandem with the
route numbers, will contribute to navigating across the city in a much faster
and smoother manner. The main streets of Abu Dhabi Island have been named after
the Emirate’s visionary leaders and heroes. Notable examples are Sheikh Rashid
Bin Saeed Street (Route No. 18); and Sultan Bin Zayed the First Street (Route
No. 20).

The
Abu Dhabi Municipality has said that in order to honour the visionaries’ wishes
of making Abu Dhabi a world-class hub, the new system is in line with exemplary
international standards while proudly upholding the local heritage.

"In
addition to honouring our Emirati heritage through the new street names,
overhead street name signs also clearly display the route numbers. This way our
residents and visitors can easily navigate along different routes throughout
the Island, and traveling from one location to another will become smoother and
more convenient than ever before," according to ADM.

There
are odd route numbers in one direction, and even numbers in the other. The odd
route numbers are exactly the same as previous numbering; for instance Corniche
Street remains as Route No. 1, while Route No. 3 remains Khalifa Bin Zayed the
First Street. "However we have changed the even numbers to make them much
easier to follow. Therefore Route No. 2 has been renamed Khalifa Al Mubarak
Street (Al Bateen area); Route No. 4 is now King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
Street (formerly Baynouna Street); with Route no. 6 now being Al Bateen Street.
Meanwhile Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Street (previously Salam Street) will now be
Route No. 24, among other vital changes," the ADM added.

Under
Vision 2030, Abu Dhabi aims to cement its rise as one of the world’s most
advanced societies, and Onwani is a crucial component of that goal. The new
overhead route numbers are part of an ambitious series of 17,000 new street
name signs and 66,000 unique building number plates that ADM is installing
throughout the year. Onwani will soon be implemented in Al Ain and in the
Western Region as well. Onwani will serve the purpose of unifying the Emirate’s
addressing system while empowering citizens, residents, tourists and service
providers alike to find any location accurately and instantly.

The
Department of Municipal Affairs in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi
Municipality has installed 11,488 internal street foundations and completed 95%
of the installation. Over 59,848 address number has been installed in the
buildings and villas whilst the process up to 91%has been completed in Abu
Dhabi City. The address number panel includes the building number along with
the QR Code. "To benefit this feature, you need to scan the QR code in
your smart phone to receive your location instantly and any point of service
close by. It can therefore, be safely assumed that this smart tool is 100 %
ready for official use. This feature will make it much easier to share and
receive location information on your smart phones via the Internet and will
enable you to use it as a method of contact in emergency situations or to call
for assistance should an ambulance be needed, among many other crucial
uses," the ADM said.

The
ADM has said that street signs installation has been completed in major
districts such as Al Bahiya, Al Falah and Al Nahyan. The rest of the districts
are in process of receiving unique street names as Onwani grows and develops
itself as the smart wayfinding and navigation system of emirates of Abu Dhabi.